Fried Green Tomato and Shrimp Sliders

I’m on a mission in life to become the Slider King of America. I don’t really know if that’s an actual thing, but it sounds really cool. I can totally see myself being King of the Sliders, too. It’s definitely not a bad thing to have on my resume. If anything, it’ll make me well known by millions, right? At the very least, it’ll grant me some free sliders whenever I want. Which is always. Sliders everyday of my life sounds even better than being king. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to be king. Give me a slider kingdom to rule where all anyone ever eats are sliders. Where sliders just rain down from the skies above. Sounds like a dream come true, if you ask me. I’d walk down the streets of my kingdom pointing at people, screaming, “You get a slider. You get a slider. And you get a slider. And you get a slider!”

Last week I decided to torment you guys by putting up a recipe for Mini Challah Rolls—have you checked it out already?—with a promise to post a delicious slider recipe the following week. Well, guess what?! It’s the following week already, and here I am with the promised delicious slider recipe. And just in case you’ve been living under a rock or something, and aren’t familiar with the fact that I’ve had some great sliders on this blog before, I’ll refresh your memory.

This one time I got all kinds of crazy and made a big batch of pot roast in a slow cooker and put together some killer Pot Roast Sliders that I’m still day-dreaming about. I can’t seem to shake them out of my mind. If you like crispy onion rings and avocado and sriracha, then you’ll love those sliders. Then I decided to one up myself and I created these BLT Biscuit Sliders which is everything right in the world. Biscuits with jam and heirloom tomatoes and lots of crispy bacon and of course, avocado and lettuce. If all of that has you thinking, “Oh no he didn’t!” Well then just sit down and hold on tight because I’m about to blow your mind! I’m now bringing you these Fried Green Tomato and Shrimp Sliders. I couldn’t just use the same rolls I used before or even those biscuits, so I made some new buns. Challah buns. And I’m piling it high with a cajun remoulade sauce, fried green tomatoes, grilled shrimp, lettuce and pickles. It’s an explosion of delicious flavor upon delicious flavor. I don’t know what else to do right now, other than to go to a tall place and yell out “I’M KING OF THE SLIDERS!”

We’re going to start this recipe by making a sauce for the sliders. No one likes a dry slider, burger or sandwich (at least I hope no one does). So we definitely need a sauce to go on our buns. Something that compliments all of the flavors we got going on here.

Every time I’ve ordered fried green tomatoes at a restaurant, it’s always been served with a remoulade sauce. That’s what we’re going to be making. It works perfectly because it just so happens that seafood and remoulade sauce are the best of friends. Since these sliders have grilled shrimp in them, well, the remoulade is the perfect sauce to make.

We start by throwing mayo, creole mustard and horseradish in a small bowl.

**Note: Creole mustard is just a cajun style mustard, that you can totally find at your regular grocery store, right along all of the other mustards. If for some reason you can’t find it, then a grainy brown mustard or even dijon will do just fine.**

**Tip: Add as much or as little of the horseradish as you’d like. The spicier you like it, the more you add. If you don’t like things quite as spicy, then just add a tad (to give it flavor) or omit it altogether. But that would be blasphemous!**

Throw in the rest of the ingredients into the bowl: Worcestershire sauce, tabasco (hot sauce), salt, pepper, cayenne, and lemon juice.

Stir everything together until evenly combined. Give it a taste and adjust the seasonings accordingly. If you want some more heat, add a bit more of the hot sauce. If you don’t think it’s tangy enough, add some more fresh lemon juice. If it needs more salt or pepper, by all means, add the salt and pepper! Just get the sauce to the point where you’re like, “WOW! That’s the best sauce ever!” Then you’ll be good to go.

**Tip: I like to make the sauce early on (like a day ahead) so that it has a chance to develop it’s great flavor. The longer it sits, the better!**

Let’s turn our attention to the shrimp. I’m using a large shrimp—like the jumbo kind—that I peeled and deveined myself. It’s cheaper that way. Season it with some oil, salt, pepper, cayenne, and Old Bay Seasoning (that’s a cajun seasoning).

Toss to evenly combine, and let it hang out for a few minutes while the grill gets super duper hot.

Heat a stove top grill over medium-high heat. You want it to be smoking hot. Grease lightly with oil or cooking spray. Then lay out the shrimp, in an even layer, making sure to not overcrowd the pan. If you need to grill the shrimp in batches, do that!

Grill until charred and crispy, about 2 to 4 minutes. Then turn over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

**Note: Be careful to not overcook the shrimp. Cook it until it’s just opaque and no longer that grayish color. You want it to be bright pink and red. If you overcook the shrimp, it’ll become rubbery and dry. That’s no bueno, don’t be that person who serves rubbery shrimp. Keep an eye on it.**

Once the shrimp has cooked, transfer them to a plate or platter, and allow to rest until ready to use.

I know it seems hard to tear yourself away from that grilled shrimp. I got you all excited for it and now I’m telling you to put it off to the side. What a crazy world we live in. But we need to get working on the green tomatoes. In case you didn’t know, there is such a thing as green tomatoes. Don’t make a face, not everyone knows that. I told a couple people about this recipe and they’re like, “There’s green tomatoes?” They’re usually by the heirloom tomato section in the produce aisle of the supermarket.

So anyhow, I digress. Slice the green tomatoes into somewhat thick, but still kinda thin slices. About a quarter of an inch thick.

Lay them out on a single layer and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper, on both sides. It’s always important to season as you go and to season every layer of each dish. That’s how you’ll know that a dish is seasoned properly.

**Tip: If you find that your tomatoes are moist and watery when you slice them, you can pat them dry with a few paper towels. You don’t want that excess moisture in there when you go to fry them.**

And now, for the fun part. We’re going to dredge and coat these tomato slices in flour and bread crumbs to make them crispy and crunchy. Season the flour with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne, in a shallow dish. In a separate dish, season the bread crumbs with cayenne and paprika. In a third dish, whisk together the eggs and milk. We’re creating an assembly line.

Dredge each tomato slice in the flour first, and shake excess. Then dip into the egg wash, and finally into the bread crumbs. Continue this until all of the tomatoes are coated. Lay them onto a baking sheet or plate or platter, before frying.

**Tip: Coating the tomato slices all at once will save you time, and clean up and also allow the coated tomato slices to dry out a bit, making sure the coating sticks properly.**

Heat a large skillet with the vegetable oil, over medium-high heat. Once hot, carefully add the coated tomato slices and cook for about 2 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Flip over and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, set over a baking sheet.

**Tip: Fry the tomatoes in batches so that they crisp properly. If you overcrowd the skillet, they’ll end up steaming instead of frying. Then you’ll end up with mushy soggy green tomatoes.**

Continue to fry in batches until all of they’re all fried, laying the finished slices on the wire rack.

**Tip: Using the wire rack will allow you to reheat the tomato slices when ready to serve, while still keeping them crispy and crunchy.**

Now that we have all of the components done, we are ready to assemble the sliders. Again, you can use whatever kind of bread you like. Some stores carry actual slider sized buns, but you can also use dinner rolls as well. Or if you want to be too cool for school, y0u can make your own buns, like I did. Get the recipe for these Mini Challah Rolls. Or if you prefer biscuits. Or an Everything Slider Bun. Either way, whatever you decide, slice the buns in half, and then slather with the remoulade sauce we made earlier.

On the bottom part of the bun, lay down a fried green tomato, and top with a grilled shrimp. I think one of each per slider is more than enough. Anything more and you wont be able to pick it up and fit it into your mouth.

Finish off the sliders with some leafy green lettuce and a few pickle slices.

Sandwich the two halves together and stick a long toothpick through each to help hold everything in place. Then stand back and get ready for the best slider you’ll ever eat. Is it weird that I just finished eating like ten of these and my mouth is still watering just looking at these pictures?

These are a great starter or appetizer to have for a dinner party, or gathering. You can omit the shrimp and have them be completely vegetarian, if you wish. They’re even great for dinner. Serve them alongside a salad or some potato chips (I think a kettle chip would be amazing with these) or make some fries or oven roasted potatoes to go along with them as well.

I’m all for recipes that you can make in advance, however, this one doesn’t really work that well for prepping ahead. Sure, you can make the rolls in advance, bake them, and keep them in the freezer until ready to make these awesome sliders. Just reheat the buns before assembling. You can also, make the sauce a day in advance, it’ll save you a step on the day of. Other than that, there isn’t anything else you can do early on. The tomatoes are best fried and eaten on the same day. As for the shrimp as well.

I’m a carnivore to the very core and although I do sometimes enjoy a vegetarian dish here and there, I do have to admit that this recipe makes me not miss chicken, beef or pork (at the moment). Sure, there’s shrimp involved (can you blame me?) but it’s just shrimp. It’s pretty much vegetarian…as vegetarian as I can get. The fried green tomato is a hearty enough slider patty that you don’t realize you’re not eating some kind of meat. But don’t get too excited because the fun ends here. Tomorrow I plan on eating steak…or chicken…or pork…or maybe all three sandwiched together. I kid, that’s not possible. But maybe it is. Who knows, really?! What I do know is that these sliders are the bomb dot com. They’re a one way ticket to Flavortown and you need to jump on board. Enjoy!

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the remoulade sauce ingredients until evenly combined. Taste for seasonings, and adjust accordingly. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to serve. Can be made a day in advance.

In a large bowl, toss together the shrimp, oil and seasonings until evenly coated. Heat a stove top grill pan over medium-high heat. Grease with cooking spray or oil. Once hot, lay out the shrimp, in a single layer. Cook for about 2 to 4 minutes on the first side, or until charred and bright pink. Turn over and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate or platter and set aside.

Lay out the tomato slices in a single layer on a plate or platter. Season with salt and black pepper on both sides. In a shallow dish, combine the flour, garlic powder, a bit of salt and pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. In a separate shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, paprika and cayenne pepper. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.

Coat the tomato slices first in flour, dredging both sides and shaking off the excess. Then dip into the egg and finally into the bread crumbs, making sure to coat both sides evenly. Lay out the coated tomato slices on a wire rack until all of them are dredged.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, with about an inch of oil. Once hot, cook the tomatoes in batches. Fry for about 2 to 4 minutes on the first side or until golden brown and crispy. Turn over and cook for another 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer the fried tomatoes to a wire rack, set over a baking sheet. Continue until all of the green tomatoes are fried.

To assemble the sliders, warm the buns, fried green tomatoes and shrimp in a 350°F oven for a few minutes until warmed through. Slice the buns in half, and slather both sides with the remoulade sauce. On the bottom part of the bun, lay down a fried green tomato. Top with a grilled shrimp, lettuce and pickles. Cover and skewer with a long toothpick. Serve hot or at room temperature. Enjoy!

These look amazing! Thank you for creating them and sharing!! I have a quick question for you…I’ve been looking for a baking rack that I could use in the oven (like for as you mentioned reheating or cooking things that should be crispy). Where did you get yours? Or do you have a recommendation? Thanks!

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and clicked through to your site. I read the whole post line-by-line – it is a beautiful recipe and I will most definitely make this in some form or the other (mine will contain sriracha, that’s for sure). Love and adore sliders, like you. We do sliders in the Pakistani kitchen, too, shall blog it soon. Yours is truly an AMAZING recipe!

My girlfriends and I are always looking for new food blogs. I just discovered yours. I’m a big fan of the blogs “Cooking With Mr. C.” and “Smitten Kitchen”. I will now add you to my list. Thanks. Danielle